Cambodian Temple Week - Ta Prohm

Ta Prohm  is the modern name of a temple at Angkor, built in the Bayon style largely in the late 12th and early 13th centuries and originally called Rajavihara (in Khmer). Located approximately one kilometre east of Angkor Thom and on the southern edge of the East Baray near Tonle Bati, it was founded by the Khmer King Jayavarman VII as a Mahayana Buddhist monastery and university. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Ta Prohm has been left in much the same condition in which it was found: the photogenic and atmospheric combination of trees growing out of the ruins and the jungle surroundings have made it one of Angkor's most popular temples with visitors.

The design of Ta Prohm is that of a typical "flat" Khmer temple (as opposed to a temple-pyramid or temple-mountain, the inner levels of which are higher than the outer). Five rectangular enclosing walls surround a central sanctuary. Like most Khmer temples, Ta Prohm is oriented to the east, so the temple proper is set back to the west along an elongated east-west axis.

The outer wall of 1000 by 650 metres encloses an area of 650,000 square metres that at one time would have been the site of a substantial town, but that is now largely forested. An inscription at Ta Phrom indicates that that 12,460 people serviced this temple.

There are entrance gopuras at each of the cardinal points, although access today is now only possible from the east and west. 

Cambodian Temple Week - Preah Khan

Preah Khan is a temple at Angkor, built in the 12th century for King Jayavarman VII. It is located northeast of Angkor Thom and just west of the Jayatataka Baray, with which it was associated. It was the centre of a substantial organisation, with almost 100,000 officials and servants. 

The temple is flat in design, with a basic plan of successive rectangular galleries around a Buddhist sanctuary complicated by Hindu satellite temples and numerous later additions. Like the nearby Ta Prohm, Preah Khan has been left largely unrestored, with numerous trees and other vegetation growing among the ruins.

Preah Khan was built on the site of Jayavarman VII's victory over the invading Chams in 1191. Preah Khan is one of the few monuments to have kept its original name. The name Preah Khan means "sacred sword" and is derived from the meaning of the original — Nagara Jayasri (holy city of victory). The site may previously have been occupied by the royal palaces of Yasovarman II and Tribhuvanadityavarman.

The temple's foundation stela has provided considerable information about the history and administration of the site

More than a single temple, the monument was in its time a real city with a whole population divided according to their functions. The temple was also a site of Buddhist studies with its retinue of spiritual masters and their disciples.

Cambodian Temple Week - Preah Rup

Preah Rup is a temple at Angkor, built as the state temple of King Rajendravarman and dedicated in 961 or 962. It is a temple mountain of combined brick, laterite and sandstone construction.

Located just south of the East Baray, or eastern reservoir, Preah Rup is aligned on a north-south axis with the East Mebon temple, another creation of the reign of Rajendravarman. Preah Rup was dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Its extensive laterite and brick give it a pleasing reddish tone that is heightened by early morning and late afternoon sunlight.

The temple has a square lay-out and two perimeter walls. To either side inside the eastern gate is a group of three towers aligned north to south; one of the towers appears to have never been built or to have been dismantled later. Further ahead, through another gate, libraries lie to either side of the walkway. Steps lead toward the top level, with carved sitting stone lions arrayed at intermediate stages. 

Cambodian Temple Week - Banteay Samre

 

Banteay Samré is a temple  located in the Angkor temple complex east of the East Baray. Built under Suryavarman II and Yasovarman II in the early 12th century shortly after the construction of Angkor Wat, it is a Hindu temple devoted to the god Vishnu in the Angkor Wat style.

Named after the Samré, an ethnic group of mountain people, who inhabited the regions at the base of Phnom Kulen and were probably related to the Khmers, the temple uses the same materials as the Banteay Srei. 

The temple's compact, well-balanced proportions echo other monuments of the period such as Beng Mealea and Chau Say Tevoda. Viewed from the east, the approach is by a 200 metre causeway paved in laterite and bordered by a naga balustrade in the style of Angkor Wat.

The presence of Buddhist scenes in a Hindu temple and the fact that in some places certain sculpted motifs, probably also Buddhist, have been mutilated makes a statement about the religious tolerance of the monument's patron. 

Cambodian Temple Week - Banteay Srei

Banteay Srei (or Banteay Srey) is a 10th century Cambodian temple dedicated to the Hindu god Shiva. Located in the area of Angkor, it lies near the hill of Phnom Dei, 25 km  north-east of the main group of temples that once belonged to the medieval capitals of Yasodharapura and Angkor Thom. Banteay Srei is built largely of red sandstone, a medium that lends itself to the elaborate decorative wall carvings which are still observable today. The buildings themselves are miniature in scale, unusually so when measured by the standards of Angkorian construction. These factors have made the temple extremely popular with tourists, and have led to its being widely praised as a "precious gem", or the "jewel of Khmer art."

Cambodian Temple Week - Bayon

The Bayon is a well-known and richly decorated Khmer temple at Angkor. Built in the late 12th century or early 13th century as the official state temple of the Mahayana Buddhist King Jayavarman VII, the Bayon stands at the centre of Jayavarman's capital, Angkor Thom. Following Jayavarman's death, it was modified and augmented by later Hindu and Theravada Buddhist kings in accordance with their own religious preferences.

The Bayon's most distinctive feature is the multitude of serene and massive stone faces on the many towers which jut out from the upper terrace and cluster around its central peak. 

Bayon Temple is surrounded by two long walls bearing an extraordinary collection of bas-relief scenes of legendary and historical events. In all, there are are total of more than 11,000 carved figures over 1.2km of wall. They were probably originally painted and gilded, but this has long since faded. 

Cambodian Temple Week - Angkor Wat

To kick off my Cambodian Temple Week here is an image of Angkor Wat and is a view not commonly seen in the usual photos you see of this iconic temple. 


Angkor Wat is probably the most famous and well visited of all the temples in Cambodia. At dawn and dusk every day visitors throng there to witness the wonderful play of light on the temple as the sun rises or sets. The powerful atmospheric feeling you get when you arrive in the pre-dawn is indescribable and worth the effort of the early morning rise and journey to the temple. The architecture of this Khmer temple is designed to represent Mount Meru, home of the gods in Hindu mythology. Within a moat and an outer 3.6km long wall are three rectangular galleries, each raised above the next. At the centre of the temple stands a quincunx of towers. Unlike most Angkorian temples, Angkor Wat is oriented to the west; scholars are divided as to the significance of this. The temple is admired for the grandeur and harmony of the architecture, its extensive bas-reliefs and for the numerous devatas (guardian spirits) adorning its walls.

The modern name, Angkor Wat, in use by the 16th century, means "City Temple": Angkor is a vernacular form of the word nokor which comes from the Sanskrit word nagara (capital), while wat is the Khmer word for temple. Prior to this time the temple was known as Preah Pisnulok, after the posthumous title of its founder, Suryavarman II.

Built in the 12th century in the reign of King Suryavarman II, this was the residence of Vishnu, the divine palace in which the King himself was to reside after death. The construction is thought to have taken some thirty years of labor.